Girls gone wild

Chicago's Windy City Rollers bringing roller derby back--better get out of their way

June 08, 2005|By Kathryn Masterson, RedEye.

Ana Mission is on a mission.

The pink-haired Double Crosser is trying to jam her way through a pack of crazy-brave women on roller skates. She hunches down and pumps her arms like pistons, picking up speed as she rounds the track and heads toward the enemy on wheels. Another Double Crosser "female assassin" reaches back for her hand, pulls her into the pack, and Ana shoves her way past opponents. A skater takes a hit, runs into the edge of the track and slams into the floor.

For each opponent Ana passes, another point for her team.

It's one of the last practice matches before Ana--a 26-year-old hairdresser known as Anna Gonzalez when she's not on wheels--and the Windy City Rollers league take their roller derby skills to the public.

On Sunday, the Windy City Rollers teams are scheduled to compete in their first bout in front of an audience at the Congress Theater--a double matchup featuring the Chicago league's four teams. The Double Crossers will take on the Fury; the Manic Attackers will go up against Hell's Belles.

The drama of a bout can be similar to a pro wrestling match. But in derby, the pushing, falling and bruising during a game are real. As for the reality of the girl fights on the sidelines--you'll have to judge for yourself. The derby girls train hard for speed, endurance and strength, but they also spend time developing the characters they become when they skate. The alter egos are fierce: Ivana Krushya, Mob Hit Molly, Val Capone, J'Illegal, Varla Vendetta, Courtney Shove.

Even the teams have their own personalities, and members dress accordingly. The Double Crossers are female assassins; the Fury are girl gangsters living the thug life. Hell's Belles are Southern debutantes gone bad, and the Manic Attackers, who brag they're the craziest of all the Rollers, are escapees from a mental institution. They briefly considered wearing straightjackets for the bout but decided to wear sexed-up hospital gowns instead.

This weekend's bout is a big step for Chicago's fledgling roller derby league, which follows in the skate tracks of female leagues in Austin, Texas; Madison, Wis.; L.A., New York and Seattle.

It's especially sweet that a league is up and rolling here, because Chicago is the birthplace of roller derby, invented in 1935. If the city proves once again receptive to the sport, the Windy City Rollers say they'd like to hold one bout a month from July through November and make plans to battle other city leagues next year.

"This is us proving we can be a draw," said Athena DeCrime, captain of Hell's Belles and 30-year-old social worker Amy Smith in her non-derby life. "We do want to have a hard-core fan base."

Friends Elizabeth Gomez (known in derby circles as Juanna Rumbel) and Kelly Simmons (Sister Sledgehammer on the track) started Windy City Rollers about a year ago. The league has grown to 70 members who gather several times a week in suburban roller rinks to train, scrimmage and generally push one another around.

"I'm not pushing you because I hate you," explains Ana Mission. "I'm pushing you because I want to win." Roller derby is equal parts skill and theater, a sport that aims to entertain. A game features two teams of roller skaters speeding around a track, pushing opponents out of the way as they strive to dominate the other team. Points are scored when a team's "jammer" passes opponents.

During a bout, each team has five skaters on the oval track: a pivot, three blockers and one jammer. The front person is the pivot and sets the pace for the pack. Three blockers follow and try to keep out the other team's jammer, who scores points by breaking through the pack and passing members of the team. Using hip checks and shoulder blocks on other players is legal; using the lower arm to shove, hit or choke is not.

There's music too--Sunday's bout will feature a DJ and the band The Last Vegas. The teams go for two-minute "jams" before starting again; a full game is four 12-minute quarters. There's usually at least one fall or crash in each two-minute jam, and referees pause the game in the case of a major pileup in the middle of the track.

"I like falling," said Val Capone, 26-year-old Laura Shaw, whose arms and legs are a collection of bruises--what she calls rink rash. "It's fun; it's part of the game. It makes it more dramatic."

None of the Windy City Rollers has been seriously injured, but there have been lots of hurt knees, some cuts and a few separated shoulders. Derby mom and nurse Judy Ramsay, nicknamed Mama Vendetta because her daughter Jamie is derby girl Varla Vendetta, comes to each practice with 50 pounds of ice, bandages, splints and antiseptic. She watches from the side of the rink and treats the girls as they fall. Her husband, a physician, comes to practice and pitches in with first aid when he's not on call.